Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 405 Taking Over Jiahe
A day later, Zhang Chen appeared in China Film.

In the office, Han Sanping and Zhang Chen sat on either side, drinking tea and talking about business.

Without a script, Zhang Chen could only tell the story that he had thought of.

His original idea was to make Rampage first, and then lead into Pacific Rim, and then robots would lead monsters to fight monsters…

But after careful consideration, I decided to reject Rampage.

"King Kong" cost $200 million, and with its precedent, it will be difficult for "Rampage" to surpass it.

So in the end, we decided to make Pacific Rim first, with Rampage only serving as a supplementary element to Pacific Rim 2.

"Robots fighting monsters? Why does it feel like a combination of Transformers and King Kong?"

Han Sanping smacked his lips.

Zhang Chen smiled and sipped his tea: "I thought you would say it was Ultraman fighting the monsters."

"Hey, you're teasing me, aren't you? Don't think I can't hear it~"

"No, no~"

Zhang Chen smiled and quickly filled the Third Master's cup of tea.

"You read it right. It's actually a combination of Transformers and King Kong. It's seizing the hot spots. This year we have King Kong, next year we have Transformers, and at the end of the year we'll have Pacific Rim. The box office should be good..."

Zhang Chen spoke frankly, saying that when making a science fiction film with such a high investment, he definitely had to consider the box office.

There is another reason for deciding to make Pacific Rim. Although Pacific Rim has robots, it is not actually a science fiction film and will not be criticized by science fiction fans.

“Will the story be too cliché?”

Han Sanping initially thought that Zhang Chen had a very wild imagination and wanted to make a science fiction film.

So that's the story.

"For this kind of film, we are not afraid of the story being old-fashioned. The audience mainly looks at the special effects."

Han Sanping thought about it and realized that it was true. No special effects blockbuster relies on the plot. The audience watches the special effects.

"Transformers" hasn't been released yet, but you can guess the plot with your butt.

What plot does "King Kong" have? There is no plot at all. All the audience sees is a gorilla killing everyone on the screen.

In essence, there is no difference between "Pacific Rim" and "Ultraman vs. Monsters".

The routine is the same, but that doesn’t affect its sales.

In its original time and space, Pacific Rim grossed $4 million worldwide, which isn't considered a huge profit, but the fact that a second film was made at least shows that it made money.

"For special effects blockbusters, the audience doesn't care whether the formula is used or not, but whether the visual feast can make the audience's adrenaline soar. As long as the audience is excited and dazzled by the special effects, the movie is a success."

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, Han Sanping agreed more and more.

“By the way, what’s the budget for your play?”

Zhang Chen stretched out a finger and gestured: "About 100 million US dollars~"

"That's 800 million RMB."

hiss~
Although he was mentally prepared, Han Sanping still took a deep breath.

800 million~
At present, no other film in China has an investment that exceeds this. The highest is "Red Cliff", which is said to be 6 million, but it is only on paper.

"Isn't this too risky? Last year's total box office was only 18 billion..."

Han Sanping knows too well how big the domestic film market is. The current market size is still too small. Even if all the money is given to "Pacific Rim", it will not be enough to cover the cost.

Zhang Chen nodded: "It is a bit risky. If we want to make a profit, we can only rely on the international market, so we must introduce Hollywood capital~"

Han Sanping also deeply felt the same way.

Currently, the highest box office in China is "Taken" with 2.7 million yuan, but the number of screens is still too small.

"Do you already have a partner?"

Zhang Chen shook his head: "Not yet, it's just an idea at the moment, but I think New Line should be willing to join. I think we can get another one of the Big Six, such as Columbia..."

"Or Warner is also fine. I can help you contact them~"

China Film and Warner have a good relationship and they established a joint venture in 04.

When "The Promise" was returned by Miramax for overseas markets, it was Warner that took over. Even though they were not optimistic about its performance, they still gritted their teeth and let their second-rate company take over the overseas distribution.

What they are interested in is China Film Group’s right to import foreign films.

This face must be given.

If you don't give me face, then Warner's films will never be able to enter China in the future.

It's so domineering~
Yes, China currently has few screens and cannot contribute much to the box office, but it has huge potential.

The Big Six in Hollywood are not fools. They have been investigating the Chinese market for a long time.

"So I think you'd better reconsider it. After all, it's not a small amount, and I'm not sure about it this time~"

Zhang Chen did have some confidence in making Pacific Rim, but not much.

The reason is that "Pacific Rim" was not a big hit in its previous life. Although it will remove some flaws, make some changes, and change the style to Soviet aesthetics, there is no guarantee that it will be a big hit.

"What are you considering? China Film Group is barely making ends meet. Everyone is making blockbusters, hoping to take all the spoils without considering China Film Group's investment. I have money now but I can't invest it..."

Han Sanping's tone was indignant.

A question mark appeared in Zhang Chen's head~
The Third Master calmed down a bit before saying, "New Picture refused to accept investment from China Film Group when making Curse of the Golden Flower, and Orange Sky refused to accept investment from China Film Group when making Red Cliff. Now even Huayi Brothers has learned this bad habit. They are currently working on a blockbuster called The Double J Project, which wants to have Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the same frame, but they also refused to accept investment from China Film Group. They all want to have the best of both worlds..."

"Double J Project" is "The Forbidden Kingdom".

Zhang Chen thought about it and realized that Zhang Weiping always liked to keep things to himself. Zhang Yimou's movies never accepted investments from within the industry, so no other company in the industry could benefit from his success.

When Orange Sky was making "Red Cliff", it did not contact China Film Corporation.

Wu Kebo has Japanese capital behind him. Japanese culture likes the Three Kingdoms theme very much and does not need to absorb investment from China Film.

"I remember I reminded you not to invest in "Red Cliff", it's a big pit~" Zhang Chen puzzled.

"Yes, you did remind me, and I accepted your opinion, but I can choose not to vote, but he can't stop me."

Zhang Chen put his hand on his forehead, it turned out that President Han also had such a lovely side.

But then I immediately thought: Huayi Brothers? "Double J Project"?
Han Sanping seemed to remember something and asked again, "I heard that the Double J Project approached you?"

Zhang Chen nodded: "Indeed, he contacted me. The Double J Project is a Lionsgate project. The producer is called Gabrielle Sihua. After reading the script, he immediately decided that the film must be shot by Chinese people and must be shot in China. Moreover, his first reaction was that the director of the film must be a guy who understands both Hollywood culture and Chinese culture.

It is said that someone recommended Wu Yusen to him, and then he fired that person immediately.

How dare you recommend a box office poison to me? Do you want to stage Infernal Affairs?
This film was organized by Jet Li, who found Cheng Long, who recommended me, and then Gabrielle Sihua found me..."

"Cheng Long recommended you to direct? Will Huayi Brothers agree?"

He knew everything about the conflict between Zhang Chen and the Wang brothers.

Zhang Chen shrugged: "Of course they were not happy, but it was useless. This was a Lionsgate project, and Huayi didn't have much say. But I finally refused."

When watching the news in his previous life, Zhang Chen always felt that it was ridiculous that Huayi used the heroine of "The Forbidden Kingdom" as a condition for Liu Yifei to join Huayi.

Can a Hollywood project allow a Chinese company to decide who will be the heroine?

This project is not going to be unsuccessful without Huayi~
However, Liu Tianxian's operation can be called classic. She took everything and then refused to admit it.

After filming "The Forbidden Kingdom", she went to the United States and signed with William Morris Studios. However, the emperor was far away and Huayi could not do anything about her even if they were unhappy.

How can there be no solution? Where did all the negative information come from? Where did the claim of transgender people come from?

Liu Tianxian spent several years without making a name for herself, so she returned to China and started hanging out in the Hong Kong circle again.

Hearing these secrets, Han Sanping opened his eyes wide: "You refused? Why did you refuse?"

Are you kidding me?
It's a Hollywood project, or a project that features Jackie Chan and Jet Li together. Do you look down on this kind of project?
Zhang Chen explained: "No, it is indeed a great gimmick that Jackie Chan and Jet Li co-starred in the film, which is almost one of the long-cherished wishes of the entire Chinese community.

Chinese movie fans, whether they are Kung Fu fans or not, probably all discuss who is better, Cheng Lung or Jet Li.

It has always been the wish of fans to have the two of them appear in the same movie, but it is too expensive.

No Hong Kong film can afford the combined pay of the two.

So this idea was never realized.

Now, that vision has the potential to be realized, and for that reason alone the film is unlikely to lose money, but it is also destined to be unbalanced for that very reason.

The two people have equal status, so their roles and parts must also be equal. It is impossible for one to play a supporting role to the other.

I can’t think of any solution, so even if I force myself to shoot it, it will end up being a bad movie.”

Zhang Chen told the truth.

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are two contemporary Chinese Kung Fu superstars.

Of course, Jet Li's status is not as high as that of Jackie Chan. The movies he shot in Hollywood, such as "Romeo Must Die", "Kiss of the Dragon", "The Man from Nowhere" and "Danny the Dog", actually did not perform well at the box office.

Jet Li's recognition lies not in the movie box office but in the DVD market.

Lao Hei likes Jet Li very much.

It is too difficult to have two kung fu stars with such different styles appear in the same movie, taking into account their martial arts styles, their roles, the opposition between good and evil, and the different perceptions of action movies in the East and the West.

Apart from anything else, the last point alone is as difficult as climbing to the sky.

As we all know, those kung fu movies that are highly sought after overseas actually have a bad reputation in China.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was initially criticized in China and everyone said it was not good. The public opinion changed after it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

Rush Hour actually has a bad reputation in China. The Matrix is ​​praised for its imagination and setting, but when have you ever seen anyone praise its martial arts design?

"Hero" also achieved high box office abroad, but its martial arts design received a lot of criticism at home.

The common feature of these films is that they are made for foreigners, so you will feel uncomfortable because they do not conform to Chinese narrative and aesthetics.

The same is true for "Double J Project". With the participation of two great kung fu stars, the film could not even make back its costs by relying solely on the box office in mainland China and Southeast Asia, and could only rely on overseas markets, so it was inevitable that it had to use Western aesthetics.

Chinese people will definitely feel that an action movie shot under this premise is fake and empty.

It was similar in history, with constant negative reviews in China.

Zhang Chen asked himself if he could achieve perfect balance.

So he simply refused and didn't want to get involved in that mess.

"So these guys named Rob Minkoff can balance it out?"

Zhang Chen shrugged: "Maybe they think this is not a difficult task~"

Han Sanping frowned. After Zhang Chen refused, the director candidate fell on Rob Minkoff, an animation director whose works include "The Lion King" and "Stuart Little".
"Okay, let's not talk about this. I'm just telling you that your movie was produced by China Film Group Corporation with a blind eye. You don't want to follow their lead, do you?"

"No, how could that be possible? I would love it if someone gave me money~"

Since the Third Master said so, Zhang Chen definitely couldn't chase anyone away anymore. If he did, it would be ungrateful.

“So how much have you decided to invest?”

Han Sanping thought for a moment and said, "2 million, 25% share~"

Zhang Chen gave a thumbs up: "Third Master, you are so generous~"

Han Sanping is indeed Han Sanping, he spent 200 million in one go.

This is truly a blockbuster movie supported by real money.

This number seems to be the number of "Red Cliff" invested by China Film in the previous life. Unexpectedly, there is no "Red Cliff" in this life, and it fell to "Pacific Rim" instead.

"If you bring in Shangying, they will definitely be willing to invest, at least 100 million~"

Han Sanping was afraid that Zhang Chen didn't have enough funds, so he offered advice.

As the two were talking, Zhang Chen's phone suddenly rang. It was Dong Jianqiang.

I picked up the phone and said, "Buy the nearest flight and come to Hong Kong right away."

Zhang Chen's heart tightened. Dong Jianqiang had been in Hong Kong for half a month. Was the result finally coming out?

After saying goodbye to Han Sanping, Zhang Chen hurried out of the Central Film Studio and headed straight for the airport. His secretary had already bought a plane ticket for him on the way.

……

Hong Kong, Zou Wenhuai's home
Also coming with them was Chen Xi, who Zhang Chen envisioned as the future CEO of Jiahe.

"Fortunately, I have fulfilled my mission. We have almost finished the discussion. This is the representative of Mr. Chen Guoqiang, and this is the representative of Mr. Li Jiacheng. They are the second and third largest individual shareholders of Jiahe. I have already made an agreement with them. After you move into Jiahe, I will sell you the shares in batches within half a year. The prerequisite is that the share price must rise to..."

Zou Chongheng finally fulfilled his promise to Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen shook hands with the two of them. He must obtain absolute controlling rights if he takes over Jiahe, otherwise it would be meaningless.

Now Zou Chongheng has helped him to negotiate everything. The only price he has to pay is that the stock price needs to rise to their psychological price, which is actually not difficult.

"Everyone, the contract has been checked and there is no problem. Now we can sign it~"

Lawyers from all four parties were present and after carefully checking the contract, they officially entered into the signing process.

Zou Wenhuai and Zhang Chen looked at each other and signed their names on the contract respectively. On the other side, representatives of Chen Guoqiang and Li Jiacheng also signed their names on the contract.

Zhang Chen and Zou Wenhuai signed a share transfer contract, while the other two companies signed a gambling clause.

The moment Zhang Chen put down the pen and signed his name, he officially became the largest individual shareholder of Jiahe.

Both parties shake hands
"From now on, Jiahe has nothing to do with me~"

Zou Wenhuai was filled with regret. After all, he had founded the company himself, and now it belonged to someone else. He was somewhat uncomfortable with it.

"If you like, you can come back often in the future~"

Zou Wenhuai did not respond, but said: "I hope you can really lead Golden Harvest to regain its glory~"

After all, this is the place where I have worked hard all my life, and I still can’t let go of it to some extent.

"Now that Golden Harvest is yours, can you tell me what you will do after you take over Golden Harvest?"

"The first thing is of course to restart the production business. After all, a film company is still based on production~"

In recent years, Golden Harvest has been in poor business and has not produced any films for a long time. It has only survived by relying on its cinema and distribution businesses.

If it weren't for Zhang Chen, it would have been sold to Wu Kebo this year.

The signing ceremony was completed and the agreement officially came into effect. Zou Wenhuai stood up and said, "Okay, from now on, this is no longer my office. I'm leaving now. Don't forget the press conference tomorrow..."

Zou Wenhuai passed away in a free and easy manner.

On the same day, Golden Harvest officially announced that it would hold a press conference the next morning to announce important matters.

There has been speculation in society for a long time because Golden Harvest’s trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was suddenly suspended in early May.

Anyone who has played the stock market knows that stocks are only suspended when there are major events such as changes in major shareholders.

The media speculated that something major might have happened to Golden Harvest.

They didn't have to wait long, as the elderly Zou Wenhuai attended the press conference the next day in person.

He hadn't been seen in public for a long time. When the reporters attending the conference suddenly saw Zou Wenhuai, they all knew that there must be big news today.

Zou Wenhuai stood in front of the microphone. Behind him were a group of Golden Harvest executives, including Zhang Chen.

The media noticed this, but since it was not the turn for reporters to ask questions, they had no choice but to keep their questions to themselves.

It has been a long time since he appeared in public. It was so long that the last time he appeared seemed to be when he was full of vigor and vitality. But when I saw Zou Wenhuai this time, I found that he had aged visibly.

“Dear media friends, my name is Raymond Chow, and I have invited you all here today to make an announcement.

Here, I officially inform everyone that just yesterday, I sold all the Golden Harvest shares under my and my daughter's names to Mr. Zhang Chen of Xingchen Entertainment. Now, Mr. Zhang Chen is the largest individual shareholder of Golden Harvest. "

Media outcry~
Zhang Chen, the mainland director who had just scolded Hong Kong artists last month, has suddenly become the head of a veteran Hong Kong film company.

Hong Kong entertainment is about to change.

Zou Wenhuai's words were like water dropped into boiling oil, and the media rushed to raise their hands to ask questions.

After a long period of noise, Zou Chongheng started to call on the reporters.

First reporter: "Why sell it to Xingchen Entertainment?"

Zou Chongheng: "Let me correct you. We sold it to Mr. Zhang Chen personally, not Xingchen Entertainment."

Then he handed the microphone back to his father.

Zou Wenhuai: "Because I am indeed old and can no longer do it. I have been working in the film industry for 50 years and I am 80 years old this year. I should have retired long ago.

In fact, there was more than one company interested in Golden Harvest. There were other companies that also had the intention to buy. But after repeated consideration, I finally chose Mr. Zhang Chen. The reason was actually very simple, because I believed that he could lead Golden Harvest to regain its glory~"

Zou Wenhuai is really old. He took a break to finish this paragraph, and he kept talking: "Before, I didn't feel old, but after my 80th birthday, I suddenly found that the people around me are different. The old buddies who worked hard with me at the beginning have died or retired.

Jiahe's situation was getting worse and worse, but I didn't have any good solutions. At that time, I thought that I was old and couldn't keep up with the pace of the times. I should retire..."

The media asked: "Mr. Zou, do you have any regrets?"

Zou Wenhuai's cloudy eyes seemed to light up: "Regret? Of course there is. The biggest regret is that the mainland's film industry was opened up too late. If it had been opened up 20 years earlier, I would have been able to make a difference~"

Hearing this, everyone applauded. Zou Wenhuai is old, and his physical condition makes him unable to work hard, but he still has a heart that yearns for movies.

At this time, someone finally brought the topic to Zhang Chen: "Director Zhang, what prompted you to acquire Golden Harvest?"

"The Academy Awards, right?"

Zhang Chen had no intention of hiding anything: "The arrogance of Hong Kong filmmakers has refreshed my cognition. The decline of Hong Kong films is already a consensus, but Hong Kong filmmakers do not look for the reasons from themselves, but like to attribute the reasons to the mainland, and even vent their anger on actors who work with the mainland.

So I acquired Golden Harvest.

Actors who are close to the mainland, don’t be afraid. Others won’t use you, but Golden Harvest will.

In the future, Golden Harvest will produce three to five dramas every year, and all of them are high-quality. In addition, Golden Harvest can also facilitate the cooperation between Hong Kong actors and other film and television companies in the Mainland. "

Wow~
At this moment, the flash lights kept flashing.

Zhang Chen's words were powerful, like a direct declaration of war - the acquisition of Jiahe is to slap you in the face, you losers~~
The media seemed to see the gloomy faces of Wu Yusen and others when they heard the news.

Inexplicably excited~
It's time to fight~
It's time to fight~
Someone noticed the words in Zhang Chen's words and immediately asked, "You just said that Golden Harvest will produce three to five high-quality movies every year in the future. Do you have a plan?"

Zhang Chen did not answer directly after hearing this, but waved behind him, and then Chen Xi stepped forward.

"This is Ms. Chen Xi, the future CEO of Golden Harvest. I would like to invite Ms. Chen to explain Golden Harvest's film list for the new year..."

Chen Xi looked around and said, "Hello everyone, I am Chen Xi, the new CEO of Golden Harvest. Now I will introduce to you Golden Harvest's filming plan for this year...

In 2006, the new Golden Harvest will bring three films to the audience. The first is the spy universe extra-episode "The Man from Nowhere" co-produced with mainland Star Entertainment. The other two are a comedy "The Job" and a kung fu film "Ip Man"..."

……

My old father was discharged from the hospital. It was just a false alarm.

The updates have been a bit messy recently, and have been interrupted from time to time. I'm sorry everyone.

Updates should return to normal later, and I hope you will continue to support us.

Dumplings Thanks
(End of this chapter)